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Lunenburg may pull plug on stalled solar deal

By Katina Caraganis , kcaraganis@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
12/19/2012 06:37:03 AM EST

LUNENBURG -- Town Manager Kerry Speidel advised selectmen she may be recommending to them at their next meeting that they no longer pursue a solar project with Borrego Solar because of a lack of progress.

Speidel said that the town has been in negotiations with representatives from Lowell-based Borrego Solar for more than a year to bring a project to the town's landfill, but both sides have yet to come to any sort of agreement.

"At your Jan. 8 meeting, you will need to decide if you want to pull the plug on this project," she said.

Representatives from Borrego have been waiting for information from Unitil, which they claim they were supposed to get last week, but now may not have it until the end of January, Speidel said.

"From what I understand from our town attorney, Borrego would not be opposed to pulling the plug on this now," Speidel said.

Borrego has reduced the size and scope of its project considerably, Selectmen Chair Dave Matthews said, and the costs associated with the project may not be worth it.

Speidel said to date, Borrego has spent about $20,000 on fees and other costs associated with the project, and the additional cost to update infrastructure may be too costly.

"For other reasons as well, it may not be the best place for them," she said. "We have to be prepared next time to decide whether we want to continue with this. I would feel better going into the next budget cycle knowing where we stand with all of our net metering credits.

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The landfill project is one of three proposed projects looking to receive net metering credits through solar projects, which would then be sold back to the town to apply to its electricity bill.

When an electric meter is on a house, it spins one way and tells you how much energy has been used. In net metering, the meter spins the opposite way and generates electricity, that can be sold.

"It seems like things are stacked against them at this point," Matthews said.

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